Ford logo on a Ford F-150 pickup truck for sale in Encinitas, California, USA on October 20, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Detroit – ford motor The company beat Wall Street’s third-quarter profit expectations, but cut its 2025 outlook due to a supplier fire that disrupted production of its profitable heavy-duty trucks and SUVs.
The Detroit automaker said it expects losses of $1.5 billion to $2 billion from last month’s fire at aluminum supplier Novelis’ New York plant, but expects the losses to be largely mitigated this year and next, primarily by ramping up production of affected vehicles once supplies are secured.
Ford shares initially fell in extended trading Thursday, but have since risen about 4%. The stock closed Thursday at $12.34 per share, and the stock is up 24% since the beginning of the year.
Ford said Thursday that the total cost of the fires to its operations is expected to be less than $1 billion by next year as it announced plans to “significantly increase” pickup truck production in the United States. That includes adding 1,000 workers to its vehicle-making factories in Michigan and Kentucky early next year.
With additional production next year, the company expects to replace about half of the 100,000 cars expected to be lost in this year’s fires.
“We are working with Novelis and others to focus our efforts on sourcing aluminum that can be processed in the cold rolling sections of our plants that remain open, while also working to restore production across our plants. We have made significant progress in a short period of time to minimize the impact in 2025 and restore production in 2026,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.
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Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra said the fire occurred in the hot plant, one of the three main parts of the plant, and that unaffected areas continue to operate. He said the affected parts of the plant are expected to restart in late November or early December, sooner than originally expected.
Ford’s new guidance for 2025 includes adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $6 billion to $6.5 billion, down from $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion in July. Adjusted free cash flow decreased from $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion, from $2 billion to $3 billion, and capital expenditures remained unchanged at approximately $9 billion.
Ford Chief Financial Officer Shelley House said that had it not been for the supplier fire, the company had planned to raise its 2025 outlook to more than $8 billion in adjusted EBIT, rather than lowering it.
Tom Narayan, an analyst at RBC Markets, said in a note Thursday that the guidance change is a “de facto” price increase and a setback for supplier criticism and tariff cost changes.
Ford has lowered its expected tariff costs by $1 billion to about $2 billion, half of which the automaker expects to be offset by other measures due to Friday’s changes by the Trump administration that include exemptions and extensions of tariff offsets for U.S.-made vehicles.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting, based on average analyst forecasts compiled by LSEG.
Earnings per share: 45 cents adjusted, 36 cents expected Auto sales: $47.19 billion, $43.08 billion expected
Ford said the fire did not have a material impact on its third-quarter results, but it expected its fourth-quarter results to be affected.
The company’s third-quarter sales, which include its financial division, were $50.5 billion, the highest quarter ever and up 9% from a year ago. Net income for the quarter was $2.4 billion, up from $900 million in the same period last year, while adjusted earnings before interest and taxes were flat at $2.6 billion. Both include $700 million in net tariff-related adverse impacts during the third quarter.
Adjusted earnings exclude one-time or special items, certain interest and taxes, and other financial items that are not considered “core” to the company’s operations.
“Our results for the quarter demonstrate that the Ford+ plan is delivering consistent improvements. Our underlying business is stronger, more efficient, more agile and increasingly durable,” House told media Thursday.
The Ford+ plan is a turnaround and cost improvement plan under Farley, who began leading the automaker more than five years ago. The company said it is on track to save $1 billion this year as part of the plan.
Ford’s third quarter results were driven by its Pro commercial and fleet businesses, with EBIT of approximately $2 billion, an increase of $172 million from the year-ago period. The traditional business, known as Ford Blue, had an EBIT profit of $1.54 billion, while losses from the electric Model E business widened by $179 million from a year earlier to $1.41 billion.
